


Divine Intervention

by ninjacooter



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Steve Rogers/OFC - Fandom
Genre: No Smut, Other, Steve stumbles into something he shouldn't, Turns out Demons are a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29593956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjacooter/pseuds/ninjacooter
Summary: During the course of her nightly duties, Alex - a Succubus, encounters Captain America. A conversation that breaks the poor Captain's head ensues over Indian food.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Divine Intervention

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot that leapt into my gray matter and just wouldn't go away.

The figure - a humanoid shape with shadows crawling all over it, turned to meet her eyes, then wailed - an anguished howling that sounded as though issuing forth from many throats. It whipped around a corner and Alex sped down the street after it, grinding her teeth.

Sure - the one time she’s training a recruit, the guy loses his nerve and ends up letting the fucking thing go, when she’d almost had it trapped. She hadn’t had time to yell at him for his mistake because the idiot had then fainted dead away.

Knowing better than to try tangling directly with her, the malefic spirit had chosen to break free.

It had led her on quite the chase, but in short order, she had it cornered and was closing in, pulling an ancient human femur inscribed with sigils out of her belt loop and aiming it at the center mass of the creature.

“Miss, are you ok?”

A concerned voice echoed out from behind her.

Keeping her eyes on the swirling mass of shadows before her, Alex calmly replied, “I’m fine. Please go away.”

She’d pushed as much influence as she could into her voice, so she was more than a little caught off guard when she actually received a reply.

“Hey - what is…?”

She then found herself being hauled back and behind an almost absurdly large man. 

“What are you?” he seemed to be asking it, authority cracking through his tone.

The shape let out a hiss that seemed to come from everywhere and the sound of bones breaking began to echo out in the alley they’d found themselves in. There was a low chuckling hiss.

“Idiot,” she spat, easily shoving the guy behind her, then pointing the open end of the femur toward it. She said the words to contain it and growled, the words burning in her mind as the thing screamed and started to shrink.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and lashed out, hearing a meaty thunk against one of the walls.

The first notes of the binding song flowed through her then, and the shade twisted, making horrible, wet cracking sounds.

A moment later and it was done, the entity trapped safely in the artifact. She quickly slapped a small, round portion of human skullcap with brimstone laced beeswax over the end, feeling the prison thrum in her hand as its inhabitant tried to escape. A quick flutter of her fingers and the cap locked, surrounded by small, glowing sigils.

Alex let out a breath and finally turned back to look at who had interrupted them, spotting a man who was now brushing himself off and looking back at her with a strange, guarded expression.

He looked really familiar. And then, it hit her. 

She blinked and let out a bark of laughter. Even out of the outfit, Captain America cut an impressive figure.

“What was that?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

Alex tucked the bone into her belt and replied, “Higher Plane Malefic. It’s not really something you guys are equipped to handle. Strange, maybe - but he and his merry band of sorcerers are busy keeping the planet safe from interdimensional threats...” She shrugged.

“They don’t have time to round these guys up, so…,” she trailed off as the large blonde man frowned, sliding his hands into his pockets.

“Did you just… trap it? In that?” He nodded, indicating the bone.

They’d always said he was a quick one.

“Yep,” she grinned, then quickly moved to walk past him.

“Wait… Please?”

Alex sighed and turned to face him, a hand on the large leather spirit bag at her hip.

“You have questions? Buy me dinner. I’m starving.”

He blinked, then nodded. “Yeah. Sure. I can do that.”

She turned and he quickly moved to fall in step beside her. “I’m in the mood for aloo gobi and mattar paneer, Indian sound good to you?”

“Does it matter?” he asked, sounding a little cheeky.

She chuckled and shook her head. “Nope.”

He laughed then.

“So - I’m guessing you do this sort of thing often?” he asked, keeping his tone casual.

Honestly? Business had been starting to pick up recently - even moreso than usual. Alex wondered if it was a sign of something bigger happening. The only reason she was even considering talking to him about this was because he’d been on the team who had been responsible for defending New York from an invading alien fleet. She was pretty sure he’d listen with an open mind to whatever she had to say.

“Been getting a little busier lately,” she replied quietly.

They walked in relative silence for a few beats before he asked, “So - was that a  _ demon _ ?”

Alex glanced over at him and shifted her spirit bag a little higher on her hip.

“That? A demon? Nah. In the trade, we call them Extradimensional Beings,” she explained, pulling a cigar out of her spirit pack and lighting it as they continued to walk. “This particular one was fairly low level. They can cause plenty of damage, mind you, but once you know how to track and capture them, it’s not that bad.”

She took a long puff on the cigar, blowing out a few smoke rings to show off.

“ _ I’m _ the demon.”

That stopped him in his tracks. He stared at her as she turned and winked at him.

Alex laughed, then spun on her heel, starting to walk again.

“Come on, boy scout. You owe me dinner.”

\--

He stayed silent until they were seated at the restaurant. To be fair, his worldview had probably shifted quite a bit in the last few minutes. It was only fair that she give him a little time to wrap his head around it.

“Demons. Aliens,” he shook his head, then looked up at her. “And to think - there was a time where I honestly thought the only true Evil in the world were Nazis.”

She gave him a mild look.

“Demons aren’t always necessarily evil. I mean, yeah, we fell from…,” she trailed off, clearing her throat. “But trust me when I say that most of us only nurture the spark of wickedness in… HIS creation itself, rather than infesting it with our own particular influence.”

She shook her head.

“The thing you apes do to each other when you don’t get what you want is so much worse than most of us can ever conceive. It’s both fascinating and horrifying.”

The man across the table blinked and picked up his glass of water, downing it all quickly. His hand shook a little as he placed it back on the table.

“Can you not even say His name?” he asked. He seemed honestly curious.

She pointed upward, as if to say Who, that guy?

He nodded.

Alex shook her head, frowning. “There are rules, even for the fallen. Although we stood in opposition to THEM, there is something in some of us that keeps us from taking that last step of blasphemy - attributing THEM with a name that their own creation made up in that awful little book of monstrosities your kind created.”

Captain America blinked. “...the BIBLE?”

She chuckled softly. “That’s the one. What a torrid, tawdry little collection of grotesqueries that mess is. Although I have to say I am quite partial to Leviticus. All these twisted little rules that most of you don’t even follow. It’d be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.”

He seemed to take this in, then asked, “Them? Not Him?”

Alex grinned and leaned back in her chair. “You know - Father, Son, Holy Ghost? I always found it so audacious that THEIR creation - with their ‘outies’ rather than ‘innies’ assigned in the random genetic lottery that distributes genitalia, have convinced themselves that their own creator actually has a gender. That they even look like THEM.”

Not seeming to know what to do with himself, she watched him look away as the waiter walked up.

She smiled and the server smiled back. “I think we need a few more minutes, please.”

The man nodded and walked off as Captain America looked back at her. He looked haunted.

“I don’t know if I want you to keep talking, or whether I want to walk out of the restaurant and pretend that this conversation never happened.”

He seemed to come to terms with something, then asked, “What about Thor? Loki?”

“Those crazy kids. They’re great. What about them?”

She took a sip of her water.

He pursed his lips, then asked, “I know this is considered pretty rude, but - how old are you? I mean, if you’re calling THEM kids…”

Alex sighed and dipped her hand into her spirit bag, pulling out a wad of herbs wrapped in a banana leaf. She unwrapped the small, organic package, taking a small portion of them and tucking them between her gums and lip.

He patiently waited for her to finish rewrapping and putting it away. The first soothing tingles of the stuff started working their magic and she felt herself relax before she answered him.

“If I fell… from…” she pointed up at the ceiling, “How old do YOU think I am?”

He blanched and swallowed.

“Look,” she offered, trying to use a soothing tone. “I think we got off on the wrong foot, here. I’m Alex, but you can call me Cantu. I’m a succubus - fairly harmless in the grand scheme of things, really.”

Captain America cleared his throat, then asked, “So… you’re a sex demon?”

Alex/Cantu shook her head, chuckling softly.

“ _ Desire _ , honey. Not just sex. Really - although, your kind do seem to spend most of your time rutting or trying to rut, so it’s easy to see how you could mistake the two.”

His eyes narrowed, but his cheeks flushed. “I see.” His tone was clipped.

“You’re still so innocent? Even after coming out of the ice?” she sighed softly. “But then you always were kind of a boy scout.”

That seemed to upset him. She didn’t need to read his thoughts to know what he was likely thinking.

“Yes, you’ve seen war. You’ve killed. But your goodness - your  _ decency  _ remains intact. It’s rare in your species, at least at your level.” she leaned forward breathing his scent in - clean and strong, with the sharp tang of suffering. “It’s intriguing.”

He leaned back in his chair, flustered.

She gave him a sad smile. “You’re not really okay, are you?”

Cantu spotted the server again and her odd companion quietly picked up the menu and said, “Let’s just order, please. I’m hungry too.”

\--

Alex had no idea how much the bill was for the amount of food they had just plowed through. They had eaten their meal in silence, and she’d found the amount of food he’d eaten almost alarming. His very presence burned so brightly now, like the paladins of old. Those poor, young children sent against her kind by the church, in its infinite wisdom. They had been so beautiful - their faith shining brightly within them as they prayed to THEM for protection, and they had all been so utterly shocked when THEY abandoned them to his castoff creations, now relegated to darkness and shadows.

This man’s shine used to be brighter, but something had dimmed it considerably.

“Thanks for the food,” she murmured softly, genuinely grateful. He was a kind, decent man. She was pleased to be able to personally verify all the stories she’d heard about him. Their kind always spoke in hushed tones about humans who carried a shard of The Creator shining within them while they walked in this place.

He gave her a halfhearted smile. “You’re welcome. Thank you for… ah, talking to me.”

She smiled and replied, “Thanks for saving the world, Captain. It’d be a bit of an inconvenience if it ended, you understand.”

He gave her a long look, then nodded.

“This is easily the strangest conversation I’ve ever had - and I’ve talked to a God before,” he murmured.

She chuckled. “Whatever you may think of me and my kind, I truly do appreciate you. It’s not often that we get to spend time with those blessed with THEIR grace.” she sighed softly. “I must admit, I miss it.”

He flushed and looked down. It was completely endearing. He obviously wasn’t good at hearing compliments. His mere presence was like a soothing balm to her, and she found herself truly relaxing for the first time that she could remember.

A creature of shadows and a paragon of light and true virtue sharing a meal? It was unheard of. Nobody would believe her.

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to tell the others about this,” she murmured softly, feeling almost regretful.

He peered at her, wary now. “Is that a threat?”

She sighed and shook her head. Ugh, wording. Talking was so counterproductive. She’d always been better at sharing information through fluid exchange.

“It’s a fact. You can try to talk about me to others, but the details of our meeting will never come. It’s the way we protect ourselves. No believable evidence. The mystery and fear must remain intact for the covenant to flourish as THEY intended,” she explained, wanting to be on her way now.

She stood and pushed her chair in, giving him a solemn look. On a whim, she let her body drink in, then mirror the deep seated, hidden desire that echoed within him, wondering what it would look like.

The man shot out of his chair, stumbling back in shock before his expression went cold. She could see it in his eyes. She’d offended him deeply with this.

“Find your shadow, Captain. It’s not too late. You can still save him, but you’re running out of time,” she thrilled at the voice that echoed out of her throat - warm and low. She quickly pulled a mirror out and her reflection revealed the likeness of his beloved friend - the one who had supposedly died back in 1944. She looked back up at him and gave him a sad smile reflected in the face of his best friend.

“And when you find him?  _ Tell  _ him. Get your shine back.”

Captain America seemed to close down, his entire body radiating danger.

“Or, you could fight me. Beat the shit out of me for daring to wear his face - when my nature is only reacting to that which resonates deep within you. I can tell you that Erskine’s serum can’t stand up to something like me, though - and I honestly don’t want to hurt you.”

His expression twisted briefly in anguish. “Can you tell me where he is?”

She shook her head, feeling true regret. “That is not how my nature works, Captain. If I knew, I would tell you. I only respond to the deepest desire within, drawing it out and  _ being  _ that for as long as I need to feed.”

“Then how do you know he’s still alive?” the man asked, his voice sounding broken and so conflicted.

“I am bound against explaining that - however, I can tell you to look for the Ghost. The зимний солдат.”

“Why are you telling me this?” he whispered.

“Because I want the world I exist in to remain, and destruction is coming, Captain. You will need to fight again, and you will need him at your side.”

The large man stilled, blinking and shaking his head. “Will it ever end?”

When he met her eyes, her reply was clipped. “In death, it ends - well,  _ changes _ , really. For  _ your kind _ . We are not given that option. We are to remain until this world is a cinder - and even then, we remain until THEY unmake us.”

His expression shifted to one of horror, then he let out a weak laugh. “And you asked if _ I _ was ok?”

She smiled. He really was a sweet man. “I am as I always was. It is the only way my kind knows how to be.”

She could tell that really bothered him.

“Go, Captain America. Find your heart. It will soon be time for you to save the world again.”


End file.
